Los Angeles Nintendo Tourney Info
The Basics:
256 entrants compete in 1-on-1, single-elimination matches.
All items.
Only Battlefield.
4-minute TIME match.
EVERYONE uses the Classic controller provided.
The only different match was the absolute final match to determine first and second place, which was a 3-stock match with infinite time on Battlefield with items.
The top four winners were as follows:
1. David (Kirby) - $500 Best Buy and trip to NY for final 4 on March 8th.
2. Mario (Ike) - $250 Best Buy
3. David (Lucas) - $100 Best Buy
4. Carlos(?) (Mario) - $50 Best Buy
Everyone else received a $10 Best Buy gift card purely for participating.
Important note: Although the Orpheum Theatre website said that no lines would be formed until 12, when my friend and I got there at 10:30ish, there was clearly a line of about 120 people. At 2 o’clock (one hour before start time), they started giving wristbands to entrants.
>>> NOTE: Tournament entrants must be 18 or older with valid ID <<<
Nintendo said that “legal reasons” forced the age limit. Fortunately for the younger players, a kiosk was set up for free play and those without tournament wristbands could head there. Otherwise, they were welcome to sit in the audience and watch any of the 8 1v1 kiosks or watch the big, fatty, massive screen which was tied to the fourth kiosk (although it still had it’s normal TV for the players themselves).
-----
My Impressions:
First and foremost, the game is FUN!!! I haven’t imported the game, so this was my first hands-on experience. Not only was it a blast to play Brawl, it was fun to be around so many Smashaholics! The competition is intense because everyone is so pumped up to play, but for the most part, everyone is a good sport. I can only think of one instance in which a guy actually forfeited and refused to shake his opponent’s hand. =P
Anyway, I played 4 total matches but ended up losing after reaching the final 32.
First Match: Pit (me) vs. Pit
I wanted to try out a new character, and Pit looked like a blast from all the videos ... and he was indeed a blast to play! His air game is great and his speed helped me collect items and Smash balls. I ended up collecting all the Smash Balls and getting 3 Final Smashes off!!! I won 4-1 fairly easily. It was clear that my opponent wasn’t comfortable with Brawl and for the most part, a lot of the first-round matches included inexperienced players. Although I hadn’t played Brawl itself, I had watched countless Youtube videos and analyzed movesets, so it felt like meeting a friend I’ve heard so much about. The hardest thing about picking up Brawl for the first time was simply using the Classic Controller. The placement of the Z button makes it really awkward to throw and I’m not particularly fond of the low joystick placement either. Random Pit notes: you determined the direction of his arrows AFTER firing them. The direction you hold while still holding B determines the straight line it will follow, and once it’s released you can curve it as you see fit. ADDED: I almost forgot! I got a sweet spike kill when I chucked a Pitfall at him as he recovered—it spiked him straight down!!! Now THAT's what I call a Pit-fall!!!
Second Match: Wario (me) vs. Lucas
I didn’t want to limit myself to one character, even though I had such great success with Pit because I was at the tournament to have fun first and win second. So I told myself I had to try at least one other character and chose Wario. The Lucas player was clearly more in touch with the game than my first-round opponent: he abused Lucas’ powerful up smash against me and had no trouble recovering. I was getting beat around pretty badly because Wario has a very strange, unique feel. His momentum seems to act in strange ways ... and it doesn’t help that I was still getting used to the controller. Lucas pwned me with some PK Starstorm action, but I ended up dodging an up-smash and punishing him with the shoulder charge of Wario doom. Later, my opponent had no time to ponder any questions when I grabbed the Smash Ball and transformed into Wario-Man, which is AMAZING. Wario’s speed becomes ridiculous and he has power and priority out the wazoo. I easily knocked him off and ledgeguarded him with single leap FAir, making it back to the stage in plenty of time for a quick taunt. Most importantly, I succeed in landing a Wario Waft to smack my opponent from the 20s into the 80s! However, the match ended at 2-2 and we entered SUDDEN DEATH! I dropped down a ledge and quickly dashed into a flying FAir for a KO. Wario’s stubby legs pulled through! ADDED: I got the most brutal item combination at one point: Spicy Curry + Super Scope! I ate through Lucas's shield faster than you'd believe and straight into a good 50% damage!
Third Match: Pit (me) vs. Fox [VIDEO = http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Cqu_8EnAeXk]
This match cracks me up—I was on the big screen! The Fox player seemed to have good Melee tournament roots, including an aversion to items. I ended up hounding him with thrown beam swords and smart bombs. Sadly, he succeeded in busting out the Landmaster on me, but I simply hung on the edge and avoided all but the last few seconds of it, when I got greedy for a pokeball and was met with a blast to the face. In the end, I found myself up by 1 KO with about 20 seconds left and high %, so I hung on the ledge until he neared me, then dropped down and flew under the stage to the other ledge until time ran out!!! Pit Up-B stall saves the day!!!
Fourth Match: Pit (me) vs. Mario
I never expected to get this far, so I figured I should stick with Pit, especially since I liked him so much. The Mario player was a great dodger and I had a hard time landing my finishing blows (FAir, FSmash and Ftilt for the most part). We fought back and forth for a good while. His Kat and Ana AT pwned me into high percentages, but my Final Smash helped even the score. In the end, I was up by 1 with roughly 30 seconds left and high % again, so I attempted to fly underneath the stage again. This time, I got caught on the little nub below battlefield and failed to Up-B in time. =( Battlefield seems to have a very small gap between the bottom of the stage and the death line, so I lost my advantage and the match headed to Sudden Death, where I missed a key throw after shielding his Up-B and he followed with a quick hit for the victory. Alas!
Random stuff:
The 3rd-4th place match was far more entertaining than the final match (which Kirby won with 2 stock left). In the Lucas-Mario match-up for 3rd place, the Tingle AT appeared and ... get this ... dropped 12 HAMMERS on the stage, 2 of them golden. Tingle exacts his revenge on yet another game!!! Anyway, the rest of the fight became a hammer-die-hammer-die fest which was pretty funny to watch.
A lot of people chose Melee characters, namely Fox, Shiek and Link(!?). I found this surprising because I was looking to get my hands on some new blood ... I suppose the other people thought they’d have a better chance at winning with a returner.
The saddest match ever was on the big screen: a brave guy chose random and got Olimar, but he didn’t know how to pluck Pikmin. So after the first life, he walked around the stage, failing to perform all but his dash-attack and neutral air. Nothing is sadder than a lonely Olimar. He tries so hard to throw invisible Pikmin, but fails.
In order of popularity, the newcomers were largely represented by Ike (big-time favorite), Lucas, Metaknight, Pit, PT and distantly Wario/Dedede/Diddy/Olimar. I was really surprised by how few people went with Dedede considering how many chain-throw videos are out there. Wario is sadly underrepresented ... he was definitely awkward for me, but I really liked his moves and his recovery (Bike -> jump -> Up-B) is top notch. Just be sure to destroy your bike (toss it offstage, beat it up or eat it) so that you can always use it to recover since you can only have one on stage at a time.
After the tournament, everything was packed up. No free play. For that matter, there wasn’t any free play during the tournament apart from the single kiosk, which I believe had priority for those who didn’t have a tournament wristband. However, it was vastly entertaining to watch Brawl in its full beauty live and cheer with the crowd as final smashes land and bombs explode. Seriously ... when an entire crowd of real people is chanting “DIDDY KONG” a la Brawl, it’s awesome. When people cheered and jeered at my under-the-stage Pit stalling, my adrenaline was through the roof!
----
Finally, if anyone has any questions, I'll gladly try to answer them!
**** VIDEO ADDED: http://uk.youtube.com/watch?v=EUVZbsmNdgM [Final Match] Thanks Patriot$!
*** More Videos: http://www.youtube.com/user/qraptor
My friend is the PT. He recorded my 3rd match, the Pit vs. Fox (linked above), too. Enjoy!
The Basics:
256 entrants compete in 1-on-1, single-elimination matches.
All items.
Only Battlefield.
4-minute TIME match.
EVERYONE uses the Classic controller provided.
The only different match was the absolute final match to determine first and second place, which was a 3-stock match with infinite time on Battlefield with items.
The top four winners were as follows:
1. David (Kirby) - $500 Best Buy and trip to NY for final 4 on March 8th.
2. Mario (Ike) - $250 Best Buy
3. David (Lucas) - $100 Best Buy
4. Carlos(?) (Mario) - $50 Best Buy
Everyone else received a $10 Best Buy gift card purely for participating.
Important note: Although the Orpheum Theatre website said that no lines would be formed until 12, when my friend and I got there at 10:30ish, there was clearly a line of about 120 people. At 2 o’clock (one hour before start time), they started giving wristbands to entrants.
>>> NOTE: Tournament entrants must be 18 or older with valid ID <<<
Nintendo said that “legal reasons” forced the age limit. Fortunately for the younger players, a kiosk was set up for free play and those without tournament wristbands could head there. Otherwise, they were welcome to sit in the audience and watch any of the 8 1v1 kiosks or watch the big, fatty, massive screen which was tied to the fourth kiosk (although it still had it’s normal TV for the players themselves).
-----
My Impressions:
First and foremost, the game is FUN!!! I haven’t imported the game, so this was my first hands-on experience. Not only was it a blast to play Brawl, it was fun to be around so many Smashaholics! The competition is intense because everyone is so pumped up to play, but for the most part, everyone is a good sport. I can only think of one instance in which a guy actually forfeited and refused to shake his opponent’s hand. =P
Anyway, I played 4 total matches but ended up losing after reaching the final 32.
First Match: Pit (me) vs. Pit
I wanted to try out a new character, and Pit looked like a blast from all the videos ... and he was indeed a blast to play! His air game is great and his speed helped me collect items and Smash balls. I ended up collecting all the Smash Balls and getting 3 Final Smashes off!!! I won 4-1 fairly easily. It was clear that my opponent wasn’t comfortable with Brawl and for the most part, a lot of the first-round matches included inexperienced players. Although I hadn’t played Brawl itself, I had watched countless Youtube videos and analyzed movesets, so it felt like meeting a friend I’ve heard so much about.
The hardest thing about picking up Brawl for the first time was simply using the Classic Controller. The placement of the Z button makes it really awkward to throw and I’m not particularly fond of the low joystick placement either. Random Pit notes: you determined the direction of his arrows AFTER firing them. The direction you hold while still holding B determines the straight line it will follow, and once it’s released you can curve it as you see fit. ADDED: I almost forgot! I got a sweet spike kill when I chucked a Pitfall at him as he recovered—it spiked him straight down!!! Now THAT's what I call a Pit-fall!!!Second Match: Wario (me) vs. Lucas
I didn’t want to limit myself to one character, even though I had such great success with Pit because I was at the tournament to have fun first and win second. So I told myself I had to try at least one other character and chose Wario. The Lucas player was clearly more in touch with the game than my first-round opponent: he abused Lucas’ powerful up smash against me and had no trouble recovering. I was getting beat around pretty badly because Wario has a very strange, unique feel. His momentum seems to act in strange ways ... and it doesn’t help that I was still getting used to the controller. Lucas pwned me with some PK Starstorm action, but I ended up dodging an up-smash and punishing him with the shoulder charge of Wario doom. Later, my opponent had no time to ponder any questions when I grabbed the Smash Ball and transformed into Wario-Man, which is AMAZING. Wario’s speed becomes ridiculous and he has power and priority out the wazoo. I easily knocked him off and ledgeguarded him with single leap FAir, making it back to the stage in plenty of time for a quick taunt.
Most importantly, I succeed in landing a Wario Waft to smack my opponent from the 20s into the 80s! However, the match ended at 2-2 and we entered SUDDEN DEATH! I dropped down a ledge and quickly dashed into a flying FAir for a KO. Wario’s stubby legs pulled through! ADDED: I got the most brutal item combination at one point: Spicy Curry + Super Scope! I ate through Lucas's shield faster than you'd believe and straight into a good 50% damage!Third Match: Pit (me) vs. Fox [VIDEO = http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Cqu_8EnAeXk]
This match cracks me up—I was on the big screen! The Fox player seemed to have good Melee tournament roots, including an aversion to items. I ended up hounding him with thrown beam swords and smart bombs. Sadly, he succeeded in busting out the Landmaster on me, but I simply hung on the edge and avoided all but the last few seconds of it, when I got greedy for a pokeball and was met with a blast to the face.
In the end, I found myself up by 1 KO with about 20 seconds left and high %, so I hung on the ledge until he neared me, then dropped down and flew under the stage to the other ledge until time ran out!!! Pit Up-B stall saves the day!!!Fourth Match: Pit (me) vs. Mario
I never expected to get this far, so I figured I should stick with Pit, especially since I liked him so much. The Mario player was a great dodger and I had a hard time landing my finishing blows (FAir, FSmash and Ftilt for the most part). We fought back and forth for a good while. His Kat and Ana AT pwned me into high percentages, but my Final Smash helped even the score. In the end, I was up by 1 with roughly 30 seconds left and high % again, so I attempted to fly underneath the stage again. This time, I got caught on the little nub below battlefield and failed to Up-B in time. =( Battlefield seems to have a very small gap between the bottom of the stage and the death line, so I lost my advantage and the match headed to Sudden Death, where I missed a key throw after shielding his Up-B and he followed with a quick hit for the victory. Alas!
Random stuff:
The 3rd-4th place match was far more entertaining than the final match (which Kirby won with 2 stock left). In the Lucas-Mario match-up for 3rd place, the Tingle AT appeared and ... get this ... dropped 12 HAMMERS on the stage, 2 of them golden. Tingle exacts his revenge on yet another game!!! Anyway, the rest of the fight became a hammer-die-hammer-die fest which was pretty funny to watch.
A lot of people chose Melee characters, namely Fox, Shiek and Link(!?). I found this surprising because I was looking to get my hands on some new blood ... I suppose the other people thought they’d have a better chance at winning with a returner.
The saddest match ever was on the big screen: a brave guy chose random and got Olimar, but he didn’t know how to pluck Pikmin. So after the first life, he walked around the stage, failing to perform all but his dash-attack and neutral air. Nothing is sadder than a lonely Olimar.
He tries so hard to throw invisible Pikmin, but fails.In order of popularity, the newcomers were largely represented by Ike (big-time favorite), Lucas, Metaknight, Pit, PT and distantly Wario/Dedede/Diddy/Olimar. I was really surprised by how few people went with Dedede considering how many chain-throw videos are out there. Wario is sadly underrepresented ... he was definitely awkward for me, but I really liked his moves and his recovery (Bike -> jump -> Up-B) is top notch. Just be sure to destroy your bike (toss it offstage, beat it up or eat it) so that you can always use it to recover since you can only have one on stage at a time.
After the tournament, everything was packed up. No free play. For that matter, there wasn’t any free play during the tournament apart from the single kiosk, which I believe had priority for those who didn’t have a tournament wristband. However, it was vastly entertaining to watch Brawl in its full beauty live and cheer with the crowd as final smashes land and bombs explode. Seriously ... when an entire crowd of real people is chanting “DIDDY KONG” a la Brawl, it’s awesome. When people cheered and jeered at my under-the-stage Pit stalling, my adrenaline was through the roof!
----
Finally, if anyone has any questions, I'll gladly try to answer them!
**** VIDEO ADDED: http://uk.youtube.com/watch?v=EUVZbsmNdgM [Final Match] Thanks Patriot$!
*** More Videos: http://www.youtube.com/user/qraptor
My friend is the PT. He recorded my 3rd match, the Pit vs. Fox (linked above), too. Enjoy!
Truth be told, I cheered really loud when Tingle appeared from the AT ... I knew he'd make the match interesting, and he didn't disappoint!
